Friday, 29 July 2016

So, I was asked: "Why don't you actually tell people your books are currently all available at reduced prices?"

I think I must have stared blankly. I thought I had.

That's age!

Let me explain because I should have done so way back.

The Red Paper: Canids is over 40 years of work and research compressed into one fully illustrated and referenced volume. For that reason the normal price is a piddling £20.00. However, back in May I reduced the cover price for a limited time to £10.00 and my intention is not to keep it that low much longer since it is a 50% discount!

Some Things Strange & Sinister is over 300+ pages and fully referenced, illustrated and opening up files I'm accumulated over 40 years. Normally the book would cost £25.00 but is currently on sale for £15.00!

Pursuing the Strange & Weird: A Naturalist's Viewpoint, again, incorporates decades of work and opinion into a volume that, normally, should cost you £20.00 but is currently only £15.00. So, another bargain!

Thursday, 28 July 2016

Born in Bristol,England, 6th
June,1957,Terry became interested in nature and wildlife at around 5-6 years of age. While attending GreenwayBoysSchool, the interest in
science and mysteries of nature increased resulting into several local investigations
of mysterious (natural) phenomena. At the same time, having
accidentally picked up a copy of Brinsley le poer Trench's (later Lord Clancarty) “The Flying Saucer Story”, Terry began studying UFO reports and local
sightings.

Between 1977-2007, Terry acted as a wildlife
consultant to UK police
forces on exotic animals living in the UK. Being a noted naturalist, he has also worked with other wildlife specialists and universities and his name is on several technical papers. In 1974,Terry set up the Bristol UFO
Investigation Team (BUFOIT), joined the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), covering much of the West of England as an investigator and Regional
Investigations Co-ordinator.

Circa 1976,Terry joined the oldest UK UFO group, the British
Flying Saucer Bureau (f.1952) and became an investigator, later Head of
Research & Investigation and also editor of the UFO News Bulletin.

In 1977,as an attempt to promote more scientific approach to
UFO investigation, Terry set up UFO International (see Sachs, M., Encyclopaedia
of UFOs).

Having established contact with Lord Clancarty and Air Vice
Marshal Sir Victor Goddard (a former Head of RAF Intelligence and outspoken UFO
believer), in 1977 Terry, along with late colleague Franklyn A. Davin-Wilson, visited
London for a meeting with Clancarty, Goddard and others having submitted a
document calling for a National Aerospace Commission (NaComm). Terry was asked to mount an unofficial
investigation into all aspects of the UFO phenomenon –a limited fund for
travelling and living expenses was agreed upon.

In January,1978,the Anomalous Observational Phenomena Bureau (AOP B) began its work building up a data base on every aspect of UFOs
–historical cases, trace, physio and psychological, animal disturbance, EM
cases and much more.

Original members of the AOP B were:~

Graham F.N.Knewstub [deceased]

Dave Cowdy [deceased]

Franklyn A.Davin-Wilson [deceased]

Terry Hooper

Between 1978-1984 there was much unofficial assistance given
to the Bureau by professional astronomers (some publicly skeptical), former
members of the Armed Forces, Air Ministry, Ministry of Defence as well as
serving members of the Armed Forces and Police Forces. A network of UFO investigation & research
groups was set up including GUFOI&RG (Gloucestershire), Wessex UFO I&R
Group (Somerset), Wiltshire
UFO I&R Team and so on.

Much of this cooperation continued well past the closing of
the Bureau in 1995, though Governmental changes in policy since then have
restricted any cooperation.

In 1984 a 2000 pages “British Report On Unidentified Flying
Objects [UFOs]” was completed. This was
later reduced to 1500pp on editing. Lord
Clancarty, Sir Victor Goddard and others, including members of the House Of
Lords UFO Study Group, stated that the Report was “…the closest thing the UK
will ever have to a Project Blue Book”.

Although copies went to the Ministry of Defence and Sir
Victor kindly passed copies on to former subordinates and ex-heads of RAF
Intelligence, private UFO groups and Ufologists condemned The Report without
even having seen the Summary offered.
The Report is currently being up-dated with more contemporary evidence
being added.

Terry also edited the in-house AOP Bulletin.

Apart from this work Terry has specialized, since 1974, on
Close Encounters of the Third Kind/Entity cases and provided the data for
BUFORA to contribute to Ted Bloecher’s HUM-CAT.
He has also written many articles on Ball Lightning, meteorites, astronomy, CE-3Ks and Alien Entity cases as well as
reporting on UFO incidents (of which he has investigated approx. 2000 since 1974).

Terry re-opened the AOP Bureau on 1st
January,2006 to continue the original work, aligned to no other groups or
investigators.

Current study includes cases involving non-humanoid
alien-entities associated with UFOs, video footage evidence and continued study
of “spooklight” phenomena.

Back in the 1970s Terry was also a consultant for the Kentucky UFO
Investigators League, a member of the Society for the Investigation of The
Unexplained (SITU), of which he operated a UK branch –investigating the Dead
Aquatic Creatures of Canvey Island and other incidents.

Terry also maintained links with Bigfoot/Sasquatch
researchers such as The Bay Area Group (BAG), Bigfoot Investigation Team, Dmitri Bayanove, etc.. Terry maintains files on lake and sea
creatures, ghosts and most other unexplained or explained phenomena he has
looked into –these include ghosts and hauntings.

As of 2016, Terry has written three books on unsolved/solved mysteries
–Some Things Strange & Sinister (2009), Some More Things Strange &
Sinister (2011), Pursuing The Strange And Weird (2012) as well as one book on
Canids including UK
mystery canids and the history of foxes –Red Paper: Canids (2012). He is currently working on a new book
– From Beyond Time & Space.

From 2011 on, Terry has also published on the highly popular Anomalous Observational Phenomena blog.

If you enjoy reading the posts on the AOP Blog and you have never read one of the books I've written then you are missing out of a lot!

Please support continuing research as well as meals buy buying a book -you shouldn't regret it!

For Lovers Of The Strange and weird!

I'll keep pushing these because there are decades of referenced work in them. Being a naturalist, artist and what-not does not pay a wage. These books are how I am supposed to eat and pay bills. Interesting that most sales are outside the UK though...

Yes, folks, just a few of the things I've investigated are included in these books -all fully referenced and including photographs and illustrations once thought lost.

Canids, in the form of foxes, I'm still studying -and learning!

The Red Paper: Foxes, Coyotes, Jackals, Arctic Foxes and Wolves in the UK

One for those interested in Wildlife -or cryptozoology!

Terry Hooper

The Red Paper: Canids

Paperback,

A4 (21 x 30cms)

202 Pages

Photographs, illustrations and maps

Price:£10.29

Ships in 3–5 business days

By the 1700s the British fox was on the verge of extinction and about to follow the bear and wolf having been hunted for sport for centuries.

The answer was to import thousands of foxes per year for sport. But foxes kept dying out so jackals were tried. Some were caught, some escaped. Even wolves and coyote were released for hunting and "country folk" were very far from "happy" -some even threatening local hunts -one intending to release a wolf for a hunt- with legal and other consequences.

The summation of over 40 years research by the noted naturalist and former UK police forces exotic wildlife consultant reveals the damnable lie of "pest control" hunting but also reveals the cruelty the animals were subject to and how private menageries as well as travelling shows.

Private menageries, or single exotic "pets" as well as travelling shows helped provide the British and Irish countryside with some incredible events such as the 1905 "vampiric" sheep killer of Badminton, the mystery hounds of Cavan and Coyotes of Epping Forest.

The Girt Dog of Ennerdale is also dealt with in detail -was it a tiger? A Tasmania Thylacine? This book gives the exact facts and details for the first time.

Up-dated 2013 edition includes a section on sarcoptic mange in foxes and treatment plus a list of wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres in the UK.

Some Things Strange & Sinister (2013 -up-dated)

After more than 40 years as an investigator and more than fifty as a naturalist,the author has opened some of the many files he has accumulated dealing with such things as..

The Terrifying Events At The Lamb Inn, The Ghosts Of All Saints Church, Dead Aquatic Creatures of Canvey Island, captured bigfoot like creatures in India -all exclusively presented for the first time and with new added research previously unseen.

PLUS a vastly expanded section on Spring-heeled Jack!

Photographs, maps, line drawings and up-dated to make 358 pages looking at Things truly Strange and Sinister.

Cryptozoologist,Ghost Hunter,Ufologist or Fortean:this book has something for everyone -including the just plain inquisitive!

For those interested in Ufology, cryptozoology, hominology, unusual natural history, ghosts and mysteries in general.

The secret history of gorillas in the UK -before they were officially 'discovered'. The history of the Wild men of Europe, the UK and US: something that in the 1800s become very "pop culture" Very pop culture and totally forgotten today!

Hominology. Sasquatch and Bigfoot -is there evidence for their existence? No sitting on the fence here -the Patterson-Gimlin film is looked at as well as other evidence. The Author's conclusions? You might be surprised.

Giant snakes. Amazons. The Giant serpent of Carthage. The Girt Dog of Ennerdale -another big cult 'creature' amongst paranormal and cryptozoological circles. The Beast of Gevaudan -what was it and were there really descendents of the creature in the 19th century -one of which was actually brought to London?

Believe it or not more than one incident of historical crocodiles cases in the UK. In fact, far more than even the Author had thought .

And, after more than a century of claims by 'researchers' that it no longer exists: The Silent City of Alaska and the near legendary 'lost' photograph taken of it.

The terror and mystery created by “Jack The Ripper” has been the subject of countless books, magazine articles as well as movies and TV documentaries. Ask anyone if they have ever heard of Jack The Ripper and it is doubtful anyone would respond with a “no idea.”

By that same token, ask people who “Spring-heeled Jack” was and you would be lucky to find anyone who had ever heard of him.

Spring-heeled Jack was the subject (loosely) of a film The Curse of the Wraydons (1946) and Dominic Keating also appeared as Spring Heeled Jack in the 2010 film Sherlock Holmes by The Asylum film company. The character has also featured in both American and British comic books and a number of books, for both children and adults.

But the fact that the Springald held the country –not just London– in a grip of terror much longer that the Ripper did is all but forgotten except for some half-truths and fanciful theories.

A relative of the giant seabird discovered, taken at the Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC by Ryan Somma

The remnants of a seabird the size of a small airplane (with teeth!) has been discovered on the Antarctic Island of Marambio.

Scientists found only a remnant of the humerus, which is the arm bone, but could still easily determine that the specimen was one of the oldest Antarctic birds known to science.

Argentine research base where fossil was found on Marambio Island, Antarctica

This particular species was known for its “pseudo-teeth.” Pseudo teeth are made from the bone of the jaw and are covered in a beak-like material.

Because the teeth weren’t serrated, researchers gather that they were used for grasping and swallowing rather than tearing and shredding prey.

According to a study by Marcos Cenizo of the Provincial Museum of Natural History, the bird is estimated to have existed between 49 and 53 million years ago in the Lower Eocene Epoch.

The ancient seabird belongs to the prehistoric family pelagornithidae, which is a cousin to the goose and duck family. Pelagornithids existed for nearly 60 million years before mysteriously going extinct 2 to 3 million years ago.

P

Pelagornithids were extremely large birds with wingspans over 20 feet. Given the size of the humerus, scientists estimate that this particular bird had a wingspan of 21 feet.

The lightweight bones of pelagornithids probably allowed them to fly long distances over open ocean as modern-day seabirds do today. We can only imagine what a sight that must have been!

Wednesday, 27 July 2016

BBC News and, let me tell you, there are a few ostriches out there living wild. Also, the police tend to shoot and kill them because "they are big aggressive birds". No ostrich has ever been darted or taken alive -the RSPCA and SSPCA never raise objections.

Animals living in the countryside -no one being harmed. Plenty of time and patience will catch them BUT it's far better "fun" for a game hunt.

No. I have no respect for the way police, RSPCA nor SSPCA handle any of these cases.

Something I wanted to post but kept forgetting. In Some Things Strange & Sinister I wrote a chapter entitled "The Nameless Thing Of Berkley Square" -it concerned mysterious deaths and hauntings at a fashionable London home.

Now one of the theories was that the "slithering horror" might have been an octopus that had dragged itself up out of the sewers and later returned there.

Now I ridiculed the idea (I still do not believe that any octopus was involved) of a land octopus because despite tales I'd never seen such a thing. Now I have and you can also. Its odd and no hoax. Enjoy!

Monday, 25 July 2016

"Sparrowhawks will not chase birds in hedges!"/ "Sparrowhawks do not come back to retrieve what is left of a dead bird"/ "You will not find Jackdaws, Rooks or Crows living in close proximity to one anothers nests!" -witnessed and noted all of this. "No. It was not a Peregrine falcon on your fence!" It was 8 feet (just over 2m) away in bright sunshine and the nesting area of the Avon Gorge is not a couple minutes flight from where I lived.

"Experts" read a lot of books but seem to hardly do any observational work of their own.

*There is a cafe in Park Street, Bristol where a greying old robin comes down to tables and he was there for more than 5 years (not been there in a year so not sure if it is still there).

*The one in our garden has been here more than six years and it is the same bird.

*Someone else I know had a ringed robin (bird that had a ring put on its leg in the nest) come into her garden for over 8 years. How did she know it was the same one? Same number on the ring that also had an odd blue stain on part of it. She saw it first when her grand daughter was born and the last time after the grand daughters 8th birthday.

The one in my garden is an old grey-wing now and I wish my camera was better but...

The 13th Earl of Haddington, who has died aged 74, was a
landowner, conservationist, photographer and explorer of the paranormal.

The Earls of Haddington are a great Scottish dynasty,
descending from the feudal baron Walter de Hamilton, also an ancestor of the
Dukes of Hamilton
and Dukes of Abercorn. The family seat of Mellerstain in Berwickshire is a
lightly castellated masterpiece by Robert Adam with one of the finest views in Britain.

None of Haddington’s noble predecessors could have had more
grace and originality or been held in greater affection by those who knew him,
indifferent as he was to age or any sort of classification. His father, the
12th Earl, was eulogised as Chaucer’s “verray, parfit gentil knyght”. The same
applied to his only son.

As a hereditary peer Haddington sat for 13 years in the
House of Lords until reform deprived him of his seat in 1999. Opponents of this
measure argued that it turned a uniquely
varied legislature into one of mundane
conformity, as if a preciously preserved bio-diverse meadow had been replaced
by a pesticide-drenched mono-crop.

Haddington exemplified the loss. Among his recreations he
listed beekeeping, keeping finches and “cerealogy”, by which he meant an expert
knowledge of crop circles. Yet this was only the tip of the iceberg. Among his
many skills were ballooning and the construction of hovercrafts, in one of
which he explored an Amazonian tributary. Both activities signalled his
interest in physics and mechanics.

His healing powers, assisted by the use of rock crystal,
gave him a Merlin-like presence in the House. Many swore by his treatment,
which he dispensed on request, at
exhausting physical cost, to peers, peeresses and staff alike. When Andrew
Festing painted his official group portrait of the Lords debating the 1995
Queen’s Speech, his friend Haddington jovially agreed to pose for the joke
figure of “the slumbering Earl” on the government side.

John George Baillie-Hamilton
was born at Mellerstain on December 21 1941. His father, a Lord
Lieutenant of Berwickshire and distinguished veteran of both World Wars, was a
noted horseman and forester. His mother was the Catholic Sarah Cook, who played
an important part in the formation of the Edinburgh Festival. His sister, Lady
Mary Russell, was a maid of honour at the
Coronation.

Haddington’s marked transcendentalism first showed itself
when he was two. He was terrorised by the ghost of a German pilot killed in a
bomber-aircraft crash on the Mellerstain estate. His silence caused adult
concern but he dared not betray its cause. At Ampleforth his japes were legend,
and he broke the school record for the punishment of writing lines. Bomb-making
involved one near-fatal detonation; but his release of an industrial quantity
of laxatives into the school reservoir failed to achieve the desired
disruption.

He survived the course thanks to Father Walter, his
housemaster, a droll sympathiser with the anarchic tendencies of youth. His
education was completed at the University
of Tours and TrinityCollege, Dublin,
both conducive to his adventurous spirit: he was a champion slalom skier and a
ferocious opening bowler for the Oakland Raiders, Trinity’s cricket team, with
whom he toured Australia.

After university he hitch-hiked the world, exercising his
talent for photography, which he exploited professionally in London on his return. A lasting achievement
was his photographic reflection on Sir William Keswick’s Henry Moores on the
moor at Glenkiln, Dumfriesshire. Sir William was the first patron to place
modern sculpture in the wild, and Moore always considered
Glenkiln, which included figures by Epstein and Rodin, the best siting of his
work. The collection has now been withdrawn due to vandals. Haddington’s book
of photographs, Glenkiln (Canongate), is its memorial. Another inspired
assignment, commissioned by Sir Jocelyn Stevens, was to instil some of the
magic and mystery of Stonehenge into English
Heritage’s guidebook.

In 1975 Haddington saved the world famous Border Bows company, providing premises at
Mellerstain for its factory. It ensured he was the most knowledgeable member of
Scotland’s
Royal Company of Archers, the monarch’s official bodyguard north of the border.

His interest in the paranormal alerted him early to the corn circle
phenomenon. He was a sponsor of The Cerealogist magazine, initially edited by
his friend John Michell, the radical-traditionalist author and antiquarian; and
he could tell at a glance whether a circle was paranormally genuine or trodden
by hoaxers.

Haddington succeeded his father in 1986 and death duties
forced him to sell the family’s East Lothian home,
Tyninghame, and part of its estate. In the best tradition of such sporting
naturalists as Lord Grey of Fallodon, Major the Hon Henry Douglas-Home (BBC
Scotland’s “Bird Man”) , and the great conservationist Sir Peter Scott,
Haddington, a first-rate shot and fly fisherman, in 1997 founded the charity
Save Our Songbirds (SOS) with its accompanying magazine The Bird Table.

SOS later merged with Songbird Survival, of which he was a
director. In all these exploits he was hugely supported by his second wife,
Jane Heyworth, whose father, John Heyworth, created the CotswoldWildlifePark at Burford. Together
they shouldered the increasingly heavy responsibilities of managing
Mellerstain, a house open to the public, and the remainder of the Tyninghame
estate, and both played a full part in Border affairs. Among several public
offices Haddington was Vice President of the Border Union Agricultural Society,
Honorary President of the East Lothian Angling Association and Patron of Kelso
Rugby Club.

His son, George Edmund Baldred, succeeds him as 14th Earl.
Haddington married first, in 1975, Prudence Hayles (dissolved 1977); and,
secondly, in 1984, Jane Heyworth, who survives him with their son and two
daughters.

This may interest some out there so if you are in the area and can spend the time to help....

"If you are aged over 18 I would like to invite you to take part in a research project which I am currently undertaking as part of a Psychology PhD at the University of Central Lancashire.

The study will investigate what people report hearing when listening to sound clips where it is unclear what is being heard. It will look at connections between a number of different personality measures and characteristics and see if these affect what people report hearing.

The questionnaires used in the study cover a broad range of topics, which include attitudes and belief in the paranormal and life after death, religion, loneliness, mood, drug use, and other possibly sensitive subjects.

You should be aware that this study does focus on themes concerning the paranormal and life after death, and if you think this may upset you, you may not wish to participate.

If you are interested in taking part, or would just like to know more, please email arwinsper@uclan.ac.uk for further information."

Sunday, 24 July 2016

Rather than look at visitor stats I wanted to find out where people viewing this blog were living. After all, people interest me far more than numbers!Here are the stats along with countries providing the most views from Monday, 18th-Sunday 24th.

Pageviews by Countries

Entry

Pageviews

Russia

1429

United States

530

Mauritius

251

United Kingdom

67

Germany

43

France

38

Australia

30

Ukraine

17

Japan

14

Canada

9

So looking at the views for today only from direct clicks to CBO (not through social media or other sources) we find:

Pageviews by Countries

Entry

Pageviews

Russia

100

United States

58

United Kingdom

4

France

3

Singapore

3

Canada

2

Philippines

2

Ukraine

2

Australia

1

Brazil

1

And, as I noted on another blog, if I took a snap shot of visits by country every hour the countries mix and come and go. After all, it's 23:00 hrs, BST in the UK so, somewhere, it is the middle of the morning, lunch-time, afternoon, evening or early A.M. -if I were insane enough I would take a snap shot each hour for 24 hours to show the number of countries. But I'm not that mad!

The first thing that I would like to do is say THANK YOU to you for taking the time to visit and read what is on offer here.

But here is the thing: the country you live in. The seas, rivers, lakes -at some time or other things are seen there. UFOs. Hairy bipeds. Strange and unidentified creatures walking, swimming, flying and crawling. And I will never know!

I know that, to date, not a single appeal on this blog has ever received a response -not once- but, if only one or two people reported or forwarded items on incidents (please if you did in English) that take place in their country. What we might read and learn.

Have the days of people interested in mysteries really gone? In the 1970's - early 1990's I received news-clippings, reports and other items pertaining to the strange and weird each week -some times getting a funny look from the mailman! Now there is only You Tube fakery and hoaxing. All the true investigators seem to have retired -from frustration.

I know, I'm probably never going to hear from anyone but I always live in hope. After all, the only alternative is to believe that the Golden Age of investigation is long gone and I need to retire to my books.